Freetown Corridor Committee rebuts Dunning's criticisms

A business owner’s resignation letter from a study committee sparked discussion at the Sept. 10 Board of Selectmen meeting about the direction and success of the South Main Street Corridor Committee.

Jeffrey D. Wagner

A business owner’s resignation letter from a study committee sparked discussion at the Sept. 10 Board of Selectmen meeting about the direction and success of the South Main Street Corridor Committee.

Independence Harbor owner Brian Dunning told board members he does not wish to be reappointed to the committee, deriding the SMSCC’s efforts as largely an “exercise in futility” with leadership that was “riddled with conflicts of interest.”

Selectwomen Jean Fox and Lisa Pacheco disputed many of his claims; Fox pointedly mentioned that she stepped down from the committee once she was named the manager of the South Coast Rail Project, thereby avoiding potential conflict.

Dunning took issue with how the once proposed Overlay District bylaw was removed from a Town Meeting warrant.

“Two years of efforts toward securing a safer, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use conducive South Main Street would never even be offered for consideration by the Citizens of Freetown,” Dunning wrote.

He also took issue with principals of Riverfront Business Park and their advisers serving as committee participants, fearing that they could put their business interests first.

“Their professional expertise and their input as potential developers could certainly have been valuable but would have been in potential conflict with the goals of the Committee as full voting members of the committee,” he added.

Dunning said the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board could have done a better job educating the public about certain bylaw proposals such as the Planned Mixed Used Development and the Overlay District.

“These were important matters that deserved full disclosure and an opportunity to be debated before Town Meeting vote.

Fox and Pacheco agreed with one part of Dunning’s letter — he diligently served the committee.

Pacheco mentioned that some past bylaw proposals were rejected by town counsel before it could reach Town Meeting floor.

Both she and Fox said potential developers at the meeting provided important perspective to the committee.

Fox said it was a tradition for the selectmen chairman to chair the committee, but — responding to Dunning’s letter — Fox said she immediately stepped down as a committee member once she was named manager of the South Coast Rail Project.

Fox said the passage of PMUD at the last Town Meeting was a success for the town and the committee, turning a general zoned area into something that will one day have a balanced mix of development as Freetown continues to grow.